My Favorite Weight Lifting Exercises

My favorite weight lifting exercises are the exercises that I've been able to safely increase the weight on a consistent basis.

They are the exercises that I really look forward to because it's fun to make progress.

When you are able to safely increase the weight on specific exercises…

You get consistent muscle building and strength building results.

I want to share these exercises with you because I think they will turn into some of your favorite exercises as well.

Everyone is built differently with different muscle insertion points, different joint sizes, different leverage points, different mechanics and movement, and so many other factors that make us different.

But…

Even with that said, I would place a pretty confident bet that you'll enjoy these weight lifting exercises as much as I do.

Listing of My Favorite Exercises

These are my favorite weightlifting exercises:

• Zercher Squats
• Trap Bar Deadlift
• 1-Arm Overhead Press
• Suspended Pull Ups

I want to tell you more about the above exercises, why they are my favorites, and show you some exercises videos for each.

If you haven't tried some of the above exercises, I highly recommend each of the weight lifting exercises.

Zercher Squats

Zercher squats came to my rescue several years ago when having knee issues. Knee pain got so bad for me due to knee abuse over the years that I couldn't due typical back squats any more.

So I gave Zercher squats a try and started out with really light weights…

And I've been using this style of squat for several years now:

You can start out with the bar in a squat rack or power rack at a lower level (as I do) or you can use the technique as shown in the video above. It's very safe to do either way. It's actually much safer than the back squat.

You'll need to start out light since your core is used much more than a normal back squat here.

You'll really feel your abs working during this exercise as well as pretty much every other muscle in your body.

I use a foam pad that wraps around the bar to make it easier on my arms and elbow joints. You don't have to but I highly recommend.

As you get better at this weightlifting exercise, slowly and steadily increase the weight. You'll love the results from this largely unknown weight training exercise.

Trap Bar Deadlift

The trap bar deadlift allows you to use very heavy weights, which automatically makes it one of my favorites and one of the best exercises in existence.

If you want amazing results, stick this exercise in one of your cycles for the next few months and focus on increasing the weight each workout. You will be amazed.

Here's what the trap bar deadlift looks like in action:

You'll need a special trap bar to do this exercise, and it's definitely a good buy. If you don't have one for your home gym, I highly recommend you get one. If you workout at a gym and they don't have one, make a suggestion to the owner to purchase one.

1-Arm Overhead Press

This is my absolute favorite shoulder exercise and favorite version of the overhead press.

The overhead press, without a doubt, is one of the best upper body exercises. I could argue that it is the best upper body exercise, but there are many others as well so it's a tough argument.

The 1-arm version of the overhead press requires a single dumbbell.

Your lower back is much safer with this version of the overhead press. You are also in a much better leverage position with this version of the exercise:

Once the weight gets really heavy for you, you can even use your other arm to help clean the dumbbell into position.

For some reason, this exercise hasn't really caught on as one of the more popular exercises but I can tell you that it should be popular. You will love this exercise due to the results you'll get.

If I had to choose my overall favorite exercise, this might be the one. It's just fun to pickup a huge dumbbell and be able to press it overhead.

Suspended Pull-Ups

This is another exercise most people have never tried, but it's one of the best and one of my favorite weight lifting exercises.

You have to be very careful starting out with this exercise as many people won't have the strength in specific muscle groups to do this exercise. You'll have to practice for several consecutive days in order to start doing this exercise:

These are tougher than normal pull ups on a regular pull up bar or chin up station.

If you can't do pull ups with your body weight, make sure to get some resistance bands to help assit you by wrapping around the pull up bar and then around your foot.

There's just something about pull ups that I love. And you will too.

What Are Your Favorite Weight Lifting Exercises?

So I've shared my current favorites with you:

Zercher Squat
Trap Bar Deadlift
1-Arm Overhead Press
Suspended Pull Ups

What do you think? Have you tried the above weightlifting exercises?

Please share your favorite exercises in the comments section below this post. I'd like to try some of your favorites.

There are so many different exercises out there that I sometimes forget about.

I would love to hear what weight lifting exercises you've been using in your weight lifting workouts.